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So far, I have entered one contest at school… a writing manifesto contest on the topic, “Why write?”. Grand Prize is tuition paid-for next semester. (I’m most definitely interested).

As in my usual procrastinatistic (yes I did make that word up) nature, I started my entry the night before when I couldn’t sleep. Then decided that I needed to go to bed whether I could or couldn’t. Settling on doing it in the morning.

I copied my entry onto my flash drive so if need be, I could do it in the school library. When my 2nd class was canceled I decided to work on the contest in the library. Unfortunately when I saw my two friends in the computer lab, productivity didn’t happen. Instead I helped my friend find art reference for their drawing class.

I knew I got out of class at 12:00pm and could be home by 12:30pm… so I didn’t worry. I could have 2 1/2 hours to finish before it was due by 3:00pm, plenty of time.

My ride decided that she was going to work out after class… I worried.

I went to the library to try and tap out some work… but instead I ended up spiffing up this blog… then facebook and others. Though if I do say myself, it looks a lot nicer now.

I started to worry about how long it was going to take to work out by 1:50pm. Luckily, my ride came out, done with the gym by 1:55pm.

Finally! I had waited 2 hours and had 1/2 hour to spare! No worries.

I’m getting up to leave, when one of our carpool buddies is like”Wait! I just logged in, let me just check my facebook!” So I stood… thinking it would only be a quick, let’s check my messages etc.

My spot was stolen and we didn’t leave until 3pm. So I stood there waiting for an hour.

Vainly hating every person who rides with me.

When really it was my fault for putting off the contest so hardcore.

Ended up making my ride give an old middle school friend a ride home, on the way home it rained.

Stupidly, when I got home I rushed to my laptop to tap out my entry to the contest… which turned out to be mostly editing and adding a sentence or two.

Submitted it by 3:20pm and hoped that they received it and counted it.

They did.

The downside, the next day my entry was posted on the net, and was terrible. Even worse, I hadn’t thought about all of the college’s english majors and serious writer’s editing. You can tell I’m an-almost-fresh-out-of-high-school-college student who procrastinated. With my sad, pathetic, 80 word entry.

I haven’t a shot. And they published it with my real name on it.

I’ve now learned, it’s not worth turning something in last minute if you didn’t do it well.

3. Go to College. Even if you’ll be in debt. I could have been going a full semester sooner if I had ignored my financial inadequacies.

4. No one pays for college. Apply for all the scholarships you might qualify for. If you go to a poor high school… they got programs to get poor people scholarships.

5. Community Colleges are harder than Universities. They’re cheaper and you learn more, but you also do more.

6. The vending machine in the library, has one energy drink slot that is a dollar cheaper than the rest. (Same price as if you bought it at the grocery store) press all buttons before purchasing.

7. Buy your books after you go to all your classes so you can be sure you get the right ones.

8. Don’t put off buying books. Go on KSL or Craigslist or Amazon… or even rent your textbooks online. Anyone who pays $200 dollars or more for only 6 classes of books, is a sucker. So don’t even think about the Used textbooks in the College bookstore. Campus-specific editions don’t matter.

9. When you find out you can check out ALL of your required books for 4 hours at the library… go buy or rent them anyways.

10. If you ignore the above… the library closes early on Fridays… which concidentally is the day when you need to do all your reading for tests or research.

11. Everything will always be due Friday at Midnight. (Web enhanced means they can make homework due on a day without class… even if you haven’t gone for a week).

12. After the first day… stalk all ‘web-enhanced’ or online classes for assignments… check every section.

13. There’s a lot of ways to get out of your tuition if you keep up on Campus News… keep your ears open.

14. Check your School Email tons. Print out all your teachers Syllabuses, Assignment Due Dates Sheets and keep them with you.

15. Going to school early in the morning means not having to compete for parking spots and professors haven’t gotten angry before class. Plus you can have the rest of the day for the homework you will procrastinate. Or for friends. Or for your job.

16. Don’t procrastinate on projects that seem small but for some reason your professor gave you 3 weeks to complete them. They gave you all of that time for a reason.

17. All of your homework will come in major swells, most everything will be due on your birthday.

18. If you do the reading for a class… you won’t talk about it… miss it once and your in-class assignment will be based on the reading and due at the end of your 30 minutes left after the lecture class.

19. Don’t depend on friends to give you a ride to school.

20. Arrive early, sit near the front, and answer questions… being the professor’s favorite is not a bad thing.

21. Look up all of your professors on Ratemyprofessor.com before signing up for their class.

22. Have back-up classes that will still fulfill your Gen Ed requirements….Chances are that class that you really want to take is not going to be at the right time or full.

23. Register for classes the hour that the option is available. Go to Orientation BEFORE you try to sign up for classes. They will show you how and you won’t have to wait a semester because they have no classes yet.

24. When signing up for classes… keep track of how far apart times are, buildings, and how long.

25. Think about when you get hungry during the day… having a fourth class with no break in between… guarentees hunger during your last class.

26. Your professors will cancel class without notice. You’ll come to an empty classroom often… use the free time wisely.

27. Use all of the resources that your classes give you.

28. There are nice bathrooms around campus… everyday look for a different one… You’ll find some that only have 1 or 2 people who come in to use it, for 3 hours.

29. Suddenly the campus isn’t as busy as it was the 2 weeks after the semester started.

30. People are serious with their studies in college. The professors won’t tell you shut up, it’ll be the students.

31. You’re going to see older and younger people in your classes.. some upwards of 60, some under 17. You still have plenty in common to be buddies. Trust me.

32. All the people who go to college are either married, going steady, or too socially awkward to get a date. Many will want flings. You probably won’t find a relationship within the first 3 weeks.

33. Emailing projects back and forth is not good for group projects… someone’s going to end up doing all of the project for the group.

34. In college, you will have a major assignment every week in at least one of your classes, most likely three of them.

35. In college GPA is even more important… if you can get on the dean’s or presidents list every semester you can make $1,000 or more. Not a joke. (Minium GPA 3.7) but you graduate with honors and sometimes gives speeches at commencement.

36. Try to be a civically engaged scholar… If you can do 100+ hours of community service a semester, You can recieve up to 1,600 dollars from Ameri-Corps. Plus when you transfer or look for a job… it proves you’re awesome

37. Every class (most notably service-learning classes) will want to you do some project outside of class that requires time and you won’t be able to fake it. (My pre-teacher education class require 15 hours of teaching (this is the introduction class to teaching)). My Anthro class requires 5 hours of observing a culture in the first month, paper and logging journal requ

38. Your teachers in different fields will be talking about the same subjects, using the same terms… but they won’t mean the same things.

39. You will be judged on your major. You will be judged by not having one. You won’t be judged on clothes, pj bottoms, or other things.

40. Use all of your resources. The school gym (which is free), the computer labs, the financial aid office, Campus Involvement places, the free lectures, the random parties in the student center that involve once-in-a-lifetime opportunities, the free shows at the theater. The games (which involve scholarship drawings), the clubs, the writing center, the free tutors, the employment center. The library, etc.